ss here announced this week. Rush

Freed, Sims re-elected in Toronto, ‘Labor policy
Stewart Smith ups vote by 6000

TORONTO—tThe virulent red-baiting attacks which were a feature of the civic elec-
tion campaign concluded here New Year’s Day did not succeed in their purpose of erasing
from voters’ minds either the many civic improvements initiated by progressive aldermen
lure of the big business-dominated control board and council

and school trustees or the fai

ALD. “CHARLES SIMS

to respond to popular demands
for action on housing and living
costs.

In face of the unprecedented
campaign of misrepresentation
and abuse directed through the
Toronto Globe and Mail and the
Telegram, all progressive candi-
dates for control board, council
and school board increased their
votes over last year. Former con-
troller Stewart Smith, who was
the principal target of the red-
baiting in his second successive
bid to regain his seat, was again
the runner-up in the contest but
with 6,000 more votes than he
polled a year ago.

What city hall officials euphe-
mistically termed a “compilation
error” led to isswance of a re-
port announcing that Frank H.
Chambers had been elected in the
Ward 4 council seat long held
by Alderman Norman Freed.
Challenging the 147-vote majority
claimed for Chambers with fig-
ures supplied by his own scrutin-

Jobless in B.C.
now over 23,000

Unemployment in Vancouver
topped the 14,000 mark in De-
cember, a figure the federal la-
bor department admits to reflect
a “deteriorating situation.”

In the three cities of Vancou-
ver, New Westminster and Vic-
toria there were 18,582 registered
at National Employment Service
offices as .unemployed. Vancou-
ver had 14,162, New Westminster
2,629 and Victoria 1,784. Against
this there were on December 18,
838 job vacancies in Vancouver,
1,784 vacancies in New Westmin-
ster and 349 vacancies in Victoria.

Total number of unemployed
registered at NES _ offices
throughout B.C. was. given at
“23,00. Ei

Commenting on these figures,
John Turner, secretary of Van-
couver Labor Council (CCL) told
the Pacific Tribune:

“In my opinion, the trade union
movement will have to give im-
mediate attention to the growing
problem of unemployment. Ad-
mittedly, it has not caused any
widespread hardship until recent
months because most people were
able to find new employment be-
fore their unemployment insur-
ance credits ran out. But in-
creasing unemployment and _in-
‘flated living costs now present
a dual problem. .

“First, what provision is to be
made for people who cannot find
work before their unemployment
insurance credits expire? Are we
going to have a repetition of the
disgraceful and demoralizing re-
lief conditions of the thirties?

“Second, it is about time the
government gave some attention
to its own cost of living survey,
which is generally regarded as
lagging behind actual living costs,
and brought unemployment in-
surance allowances into line with
living costs. It’s nonsense to ex-
pect people to exist on allow-
“ances which were indequate even
when they were fixed.”

Rush tours Kootenays

Maurice Rush, LPP provincial
organizer, will spend one week in
the Kootenays on his way back to
Vancouver from Toronto, Labor-
Progressive Party headquarters

will address .several public meet-
ing and hold a number of dis-

cussions with LPP club execu-
tives. sting
Following is his _ itinerary:

Fernie, January 14-18; Cranbrook,

eers, Freed refused to concede
the election. City hall officials
then acknowledged. the error in
compilation and the official
count showed Freed re-elected
with a 61-vote majority.

Sam Walsh, war veteran contest-
ing the Ward 4 school board seat
held for the past several years by
Trustee Hazel Wigdor, was defeat-
feated, however. Mrs. Wigdor,
who is well known in the labor
movement in her native Vancou-
ver, recently gave birth to a
son and did not seek re-election
this year.

In Ward 5, another progressive
stronghold, Ald. Charles Sims was
re-elected to the council and Mrs.
Edna Ryerson was returned to
the school board. |

Officers elected |

CALGARY Bill Longridge,
president; John R. Montgomery.
vice-president; and Kay Edwards,
secretary-treasurer, were all re-
turned by acclamation in ithe an-
‘nual election of officers of Cal-
gary Labor Council (CCL) this
week. Robert Mitchell and w.
Orr were elected to the executive
board.

ALD. NORMAN FREED

Defeated mayor
voices chagrin

PORT ALBERNI, B.C. — Cha-
grin over his defeat by Mayor-
elect Loran Jordan, who was sup-
ported by the IWA and other pro-
gressive groups, was expressed
by Mayor W. C. Hamilton, who
has held office here for the past
12 years, when he made his
valedictory speech to the last
meeting of the retiring council.

The speech dealt at length with
what Hamilton termed the “for-
midable array” the opposition had
marshalled “for the accomplish-
ment. of my _ defeat.” This he
described as the “combined ef-
forts of two, or possibly three,
political elements, sheltering be-
neath the wing of a _ so-called
ratepayers’ association,” and “the
full force . and prestige of a
powerful labor union.”

le

Hamilton attempted to explain
his defeat bya reftrence to “the
unethical methods adopted by the

opposition,” put dodged around
his charge by pleading that’ they

would take too long to detail.

Reception for Effie Jones
to launch new fare drive

A reception under auspices of
the Civic Reform Committee for
supporters of Mrs. Effie Jones
will be held in the canteen of
Pender Auditorium, 339 West Pen-
der Street, this Saturday, Janu-
ary 10, from 2 to 5 pm.,, it is
announced.

Guest of honor will be Mrs.
Jones, whose mayoralty campaign
in the recent civic election around
the issue of increased streetcar
fares rallied the largest ‘protest
vote in the city’s history.

It is expected that from this
reception a concerted drive for
lower streetcar fares and other
civic measures will be launched,

“Big business is still in con-

trol at the city hall, but its -hold
has been considerably weakened:
The Non-Partisans are trying to

perpetuate themselves in office
through proposals such as Mayor
Charles Jones’ suggestion that

mayoralty candidates should be
limited to those with aldermanic
experience,” Elgin Ruddell, Civic
Reform chairman, said this week.
“Our campaign’ will be to broad-
en the civic franchise to give
the people of Vancouver a truly
representative voice in ~ their
own affairs, :

“We're out to. make new civic
history in 1948 as the year Effie
Jones was elected.”

‘engineer to offer the dismissed

behind times’

Assertion that “the labor policy
of our city is years behind the
times” is made by Jack Phillips,
recording secretary of the Civic
Employees Union, Local 28, cover-
ing all outside employees of the
city of Vancouver, in a circular
letter reviewing the city council’s
relations with labor and outlining
wage and other demands presented
to the city this month.

Don Guise, business agent for
Local 28, enumerates outside work-
ers’ demands for 1948 as follows:

@ A wage increase of 25 cents
an hour across the board.

@ Establishment of a job rating
committee to be composed , of
three representatives of the city
and three representatives of the
union.

@ - Introduction of the 40-hour
week. ; ,

@ Establishment of the cl
shop. r

@ Amendment of the present
vacation scheme to provide three:
weeks’ annual vacation with pay
for all employees who have com-
pleted five years’ service.

Other demands cover a medical
insurance scheme, shelters and
drying facilities for outside work
gangs, provision of work clothes
under certain conditions and safety
conditions.

Phillips’ circular letter. deals at
length with the difficulties the
union has had in obtaining satis-
factory settlement of grievance
claims. He cites one instance
where a member was dismissed
from a sewer construction gang
early in November. Then he de-
scribes the protracted negotiations
that were required before the
member obtained even partial re-
dress.

First, the shop steward took up
the member’s case with the fore-
man who ‘maintained that the
member took “too much watch-
ing,” a claim disputed by the shop
steward and other members on
the gang. Then the business agent
wrote to the superintendent of
séwers and received no reply.
Next he laid the case before the
city engineer without obtaining
any settlement.

On November 20, the secretary
of the Vancouver Civic Federation
was informed that the local wanted
the case discussed at the next
meeting‘of the conciliation board.
The meeting was delayed because
some aldermen were out of town
and’ when eventually it was held
on November 27, the mayor, in
his capacity of chairman, referred
the case to the personnel com-
mittee.

Finally, on December 22, the
city council authorized the city

member probationary employment
on another gang.

“By inserting the word “‘proba-
tionary’ it is made to appear that
the council has granted this man
a probationary pardon, for some-
thing it couldn’t prove he had
done,” Phillips stated.

Phillips continued: “The files of
this union are beginning to bulge
with such cases, and with cases
where the aid of the provincial
labor department had to be ob-
tained in bringing them to a head,

“It all adds up to the fact that
the labor policy of our city is
years behind the times. ‘This fact
is self-evident to civic workers,
who are determined that a change
shall take place in 1948.”

Fighter for representati

VICTORIA, B.C.—Belated rec-
ognition of the part played by
Amor De Cosmos in winning
representative government in Bri-
tish Columbia and bringing the
colony into Confederation will be
accorded there’ on January 16
when a plaque recounting his

January 18-20; Trail, January 20-

.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1948

deeds will be unveiled in the
main lobby to the legislative
chamber. : ~

ve gov't honored —

The plaque is being erected by
the Historic Sites Monuments
Board of Canada, which is also
unveiling a second plaque to De
Cosmos in Windsor, N.S., where
he was born, ;

_Amor De Cosmos, whose real
name was William Smith—he had
it changed by an act of the Cali-
fornia state legislature before he
came to the old crown colony

/nor James Douglas. He later be-

of Vancouver Island — was the
founder and editor of the Vic
toria Colonist which he made into
a fighting journal for representa-
tive government against the auto-
cratic colonial regime of Gover-

came premier of British Colum-
bia and the first federal mem-
ber for Victoria in the House of

.

Commons.

TORONTO — Dividend payments

by Canadian corporations for
1947 are the best in history. Total
distributions of $333,200,864, com-
pare with  $286,121,062 for 1946
and $270,908,059 for 1945.

Wage payments, on the other
hand, are steadily declining in
terms of purchasing power. The
increase in total wage payments
of $600 million for the year has
been more than offset by the
steady rise in prices. Individual
wage payments are the lowest
since the depression years. (Ay-
erage real wages today are rough-
ly $21.00 in manuf.
pared to $10.10 in 1989.)

Depression feared

TORONTO—The majority of Ca-
madians fear their country is
heading rapidly. for a depression,
according to a poll “listening
groups” attached to a Citizens’
Forum operated by the CBC.

Asked, “Do you believe Canada
is headed for a depression?” 100
percent of the forums in Alberta
and Manitoba answered Yes. In

Saskatchewan, all put one said
Yes. In Ontario, 73 percent said
Yes,

11 percent said No and 16
percent were non-committal. In
Quebec a large majority answer-
ed Yes, while in the Maritime

Provinces opinion was split bout
50-50.

During debates held as part of
the forum. series, most partici-
pants said they felt a depression
could be avoided if the govern-
ment reimposed price controls.

Approve 60-hour week

EDMONTON—The Alberta gov-
ernment, which has boasted of its
advanced labor laws, took a step
back into the nineteenth century,
when it recently approved a 10-
hour day and 60-hour week in the
lumbering industry. The Board
of Industrial Relations, which has
the power to shorten or lengthen
the working week or day in any
industry, from the 9-hour day and
48-hour week, provided for in the
Labor Code, now has yielded to
the pressure of the lumber barons,
despite opposition of the IWA and
ordered that the 10-hour day, 60-
hour week, be made applicable to
the lumber industy.

Taking advantage of the fact
that the industry is only partially
Oganized, the operators seek to
enhance \already swollen profits at
the expense of the workers. They
also are seeking to use this as
the opening wedge in a campaign
to lengthen hours of work all over
the province and defeat labor’s
attempt to win a 40-hour week.

Unions continue growth

OTTAWA~—1in the space of seven
years, from 1939 to 1946, trade
union membership in Canada
jumped from a little over 350,000
(358,967) to nearly 850,000 (831,697),
according to the 36th Annual Re-
port on Labor Organization in
Canada for the year ending. De-
cember 31, 1946, soon to be releas-
ed by the Dominion department
labor. : ?

The year 1946 recorded the
greatest increase during the peri-
od with total membership jump-
ing from 711,117 in 1945 to 831,697.
The largest percentage increase
in 1946 occurred in the wood and
wood products
union membership jumped 56.2

reent—from nearly 50,000 in
1945 (49,259) to over 75,000
(76,959). oe,”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3

.

industry where